Love him or hate him, David 'MoonMeander' Tan is the most watched streamer, most loved player and one of the best players in the scene. On top of that he plays for the best team in the scene right now - compLexity Gaming. The Icon and community figure shared his thoughts in an exclusive interview.

David "MoonMeander" Tan, pro-player and community icon.

Three month of domination in the scene, did you expect these impressive results after the recent roster changes?

Of course you don't expect to lose, I always see myself as a top competitor and always strive to be the best and nothing less. The results were beyond my expectations, I would imagine it would take about a month to get our synergy together, but we just went with the flow and everything worked out!

What is the philosophy of the team approaching matches? Is there a difference between Finals or First Rounds?

“

LETS CRUSH
THEM 2-0 NAMSAYIN”

The philosophy of the team is always different in different matches. Against our rivals, we'll have a more hyped up attitude "LETS CRUSH THEM 2-0 NAMSAYIN". Against friendly competition, we approach it with a more relaxed attitude. We still take them seriously don't get me wrong, but there are less hard feelings when you play against friends like TteS!

Heading into DreamHack Winter 2012, is anything but first place the goal and the expectation?

The goal for DHW is no doubt being the champion, nothing more nothing less. We feel like we have a strong chance and we'll prove to the world why compLexity is considered one of the best, if not the best team in HoN at the moment.

What are the main competitors in Jönköping, Sweden?

Main competitors include teams from all over the world.
2 SEA, 2 Latin America, 1 Russian, tdM, QsQ, GJ2012, TteS.

The event is one month away, how are you and the team preparing for the big event? Any special plans?

Not going to give away any information on our "special plans," but we definitely have some up our sleeves, like other any team should. We're preparing by scrimming regularly (no surprise there).

What was your first thought as soon as you got the confirmation that you are going to return to Sweden?

My first thought was the atmosphere and meeting everyone and my fans again. We were all overjoyed and yelling on Skype the moment we won our tickets so I'm sure my teammates feel the same way.

DreamHack Summer is a little bit smaller, do you think this experience will even be bigger and better for you?

I've heard DHW is bigger, plus the people I meet this year are going to be better too since there's more teams and I'm more seasoned as a competitor! The weather will be alright for me since I live in Canada.

Away from DHW, HoN Tour is starting - how excited are you?

Excited for HoN Tour that’s for sure. HoN Tour has warranted playing full time HoN to be extremely viable if you're a top competitor since the amount of money to be won is absurd. I'm glad I stuck with HoN and didn’t move to LoL or Dota 2. The wait has finally paid off! Now I have an advantage over the Dota 2 players such as Loda and Akke who haven't played since Midas came out.

Do you like the concept?

I was kind of skeptical with the concept of the HoN Tour UI at first. It is similar to Blizzard’s ladder system back in WC3 days where you can just select tournament and play for ladder points or whatever. The problem with that is as witnessed on 20th October, S2Games being an indie company and having really done this before I expected them to run into some trouble with 1000+ teams trying to access it at the same time. Hopefully it gets fixed and it'll be great. The whole ladder system of HoN Tour is really nice though. Maintaining the #1 spot throughout HoN tour seems like a near impossible task, but if anyone who could do it, it would be us!

How will the HoN Tour launch affect the scene? Can you foresee a boost?

HoN Tour launch has foreseen many old players coming back, many new teams forming, which of course happened! But one thing to note is that many many many CURRENT teams are practicing vigorously now that HoN Tour’s out. Finding scrims is really easy this week, compared to 2 weeks ago.

Players like Testie, Loda and Akke are making a return, at least a semi-comeback. What do you think of players coming back?

“

I would love to see the look on Loda's face after he learns about heroes like Monkey King and Draconis.”

I don't think Testie is considered a "comeback", for lord's sake he's been playing HoN 10 hours a day since the dawn of beta. He knows the game just as well as anyone. He is returning to the competitive scene which is great since I always wanted to see his capabilities as a comp player for myself, as you know when I entered the scene he already left. Compared to Loda and Akke, Testie knows game mechanics and heroes and knows all about the changes and metagame. I would love to see the look on Loda's face after he learns about heroes like Monkey King and Draconis.

You did not make the change to Dota 2, what was the main reason for that?

The main reason I did not transition to Dota 2 was because my fanbase really wanted me to stick with HoN. Plus my biggest complaint about Dota 2 is the turn speed and attack animation of the heroes which just suck.

You and Franzzii moved to the coL House recently, how did you enjoy your stay so far?

The stay in the coL Gamma Gamer House has made me grow as a person in terms of cooking skills and living being more self-sufficient as a person! Plus I get way more gaming time and less distraction here. However home is the most comfortable place and I do miss it.

Has that experience helped you in your performance?

That experience helped my performance, I get more practice down and I get to theorycraft with Peter from time to time and learn more as a player.

Has it affected your streaming habits at all? Do you have to be conscious of noise, wild dancing and cursing or what is the coL House policy on that? :)

It slightly affected my streaming habits, I yell from time to time but I've cut it down. I also don't dance as much as the floor here is cold. Cursing is a thing done by everyone in the house so I don't really cut down on that, even though I do watch my words since I know my sponsors are watching! Keeping it professional!

Thanks for your time, any final shoutouts?

Shoutout to Mr. Berkingson, Jiggle Billy and my team, compLexity Gaming for supporting me and our sponsors Sound Blaster, Creative, Gamma Gamers, PNY, QPAD, Origin, and G8.